AUGUSTA — At 1:32 p.m. on a sunny Wednesday, the bells began to toll for Charlotte's Lynn Glasslee, an Army veteran who died of cancer Aug. 24 at the age of 55.

That's the tradition at Fort Custer National Cemetery, where nearly 31,000 veterans and family members have been buried over the years. When a burial of a veteran is about to start, the bells ring throughout the property to announce it.

So when squad leader Floyd Carmichael and his unit hear those bells ringing through the trees, they know.

It's time.

Again.

AUGUSTA — The Fort Custer National Cemetery Honor Guard escorts soldiers to their final resting places. Hear about why they do it. (Andy Fitzpatrick/Battle Creek Enquirer)

One minute, the eight members of the Fort Custer honor guard unit are sitting and talking, laughing and needling each other.

Nearly all of them are veterans themselves and all of them are retired. These days, they could be anywhere, doing anything. But they're doing this because they can't imagine not doing it.

There's Robert Dirmeyer, a U.S. Army veteran who served in Vietnam, who smiles when asked about the M-1 rifles that are fired for the military salute.

"They only give us one live round and that's for someone who won't stop talking," he cracks.

There's Gil Gillette, the oldest of the group at 86, who served in the Army during the Korean conflict and who says, "This is something I always wanted to do."

There's Mike Leatherman, who did three tours in Vietnam as a U.S. Navy CB and is on 100 percent disability due to PTSD and damage from Agent Orange.

"My younger brother (David) is interred in Section 11 here," he said.

Dick Franck is the only non-veteran of the group, but he's there whenever he's needed.

"My dad is buried here," he said. "I thought I could bring something to this."

He pauses and laughs.

"Others say I don't."

Dave Taylor is a Marine veteran who served in Vietnam and is the guard's bugler.

"My good friend Dick said he couldn't stand me doing nothing in retirement, so here I am," he said.

There's Larry Hayden, who retired after 22 years in the Navy.

"I rode submarines to help keep the Cold War cold," he said. "My uncle is interred here and that's where I got the idea to be in the guard. So when I retired, I volunteered."

There's also Robert Studabaker and Tom Rose and others who couldn't make it — Jerry Cook, Gene Simon, Brian Mohlman and Tom Stoner.

And there's Carmichael, 68, who has been a member of the honor guard for 12 years and an Air Force veteran who served in Vietnam in 1967-68.

"I've done services for 27 of my friends," he said, then pauses.

"Those are always difficult to do."

A plaque on the wall in the Honor Guard Building at Fort Custer National Cemetery. Al Lassen/For the Enquirer

Red, white and blue flowers lay on the edge of the walkway to the Committal Shelter as members of the Wednesday Honor Guard Squad stand at attention during a burial service at Fort Custer National Cemetery. Al Lassen/For the Enquirer

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This is the "Wednesday group," the vets who volunteer this day every week to provide a dignified and appropriate goodbye to a veteran who will be interred at Fort Custer.

There is a different group every day, Monday through Friday (there are rarely services on the weekend). Each is sponsored by a different veterans organization and the members of each of have grown close. In all, there are perhaps 75 volunteer honor guard members and each group has its own way of doing its job.

But there remains the one constant.

"Regardless of the time they spent in the military, the have all decided they needed to do more for the country and for veterans," said Al Richburg, director of the cemetery and a veteran himself. "It just stays with them."

And they're never easy.

Carmichael recalls having to present a folded American flag to the 7-year-old daughter of a soldier killed in Iraq.

He remembers how he could not look directly into the little girl's eyes.

"I had to look just off from her, at the trees behind her," he said. "If I'd looked right in her eyes, I never would have made it."

He pauses again.

"You never get used to it," he said. "And I'm not ashamed to say that I've gone behind the committal shelter (where services are held) to dry my eyes."

Yet none of them can imagine doing anything else.

"It's a matter of showing respect," Dirmeyer said.

Ceremonies are held every half-hour from 10 a.m. to 2:30 every day as needed. On some days there are as many as eight services.

And while there's a certain routine to what they do, it is never the same.

"You'd think it would be the same every time, but it's not," Hayden said. "That's because you always do what the family wants."

And when they hear the bells, the talking stops, the smiles fade and the work begins.

Each man takes his position, snaps to attention and awaits the funeral procession and the flag-draped coffin.

It is a simple ceremony but one full of significance and emotion.

The coffin (or urn if the veteran has been cremated) is brought to the sheltered committal house deep in the trees where the loved one is remembered. The squad fires three shots in tribute and an American flag is folded and presented to a family member by Carmichael. The cartridges from the rifle salute are also presented to the spouse with a scroll of appreciation.

Taylor plays "Taps" flawlessly and the casket is loaded in a van and taken to the burial site. But sometimes, if no bugler is available, a digital recording is used.

"We call it our bugler in the trees," Carmichael said.

The ceremony over, the casket is loaded into a van to be transported just down the road to the burial site.

It's only then that the honor guard relaxes.

They critique an effort they admit was not perfect because several members were missing.

"I screwed up some of the commands," said Leatherman, who is not normally a squad leader.

But the banter and joking begins again. Until 2:30 p.m., when the bells toll again for a World War II Navy veteran coming home.

It's time.

Again.

Chuck Carlson is editor of Connections. Reach him at 966-0690. Follow him on Twitter: @ChuckCarlson4

Want to help?

The Fort Custer Honor Guard stays in operation through community donations. Anyone who'd like to donate can send a check to the Fort Custer National Cemetery, 15501 Dickman Road, Augusta, Mich. 49012 and signify it for the honor guard. For more information, call the cemetery at 269-731-4164.